Lone survivor of Air India crash speaks out: ‘I’m broken’

The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash that killed over 260 people — including his own brother — revealed he’s been “broken” by the tragedy, and said the airline has so far declined to meet with him.

Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 39-year-old British national, miraculously crawled out of the wreckage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in June after it crashed into a hostel 32 seconds after taking off from the airport in Ahmedabad.

The carnage left him forever changed.

“God gave me life but took all my happiness… It completely brought down my family,” he told the Telegraph from his home in Leicester, England.

Ramesh was famously filmed covered in blood and staggering through the streets of the Indian city after the plane crash. 

He was seated in seat 11A, and managed to escape largely unhurt after his section of the plane landed unexploded on the ground while other chunks of fuselage hit a building and burst into flames.

Months later, the businessman is finding it hard to sleep a night, and has “flashbacks all the time.”

“I lost my brother, I’m broken. We were all happy, enjoying [life]. My brother was my strength, he was my everything. And now? We’re broken, I don’t feel like talking to anyone,” he told the paper.

“My mother, father and my younger brother totally broke down – like mentally. And also me – mentally, physically,” he continued, adding he’s still reluctant to talk about the crash even to those closest to him.

“I’m in my room, alone. I don’t like to talk too much… Every day I’m struggling,” he said, wearing a New York Yankees cap in honor of his brother Ajay, who died with a similar cap on his head.

Ramesh has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, and additionally still suffers from pain in his leg, knee, shoulder and back that’s left him unable to work.

The mental and physical trauma is so severe he has trouble even taking his 4-year-old son to school.

Ramesh’s spokesman and advisor, Radd Seiger, accused Air India of “hiding behind lawyers” as Ramesh continues to deal with the fallout, according to the Telegraph.

So far the airline has only offered him an interim payment equal to all of the victims’ relatives — and has declined his three requests to meet with officials.

 “You might guess that his claim is by far bigger than anyone else’s, because as you can imagine his injuries are horrendous,” Seiger said

 Representatives with Tata Group, Air India’s parent company, have offered to meet — but the airline itself has so far been dodging him, he said.

Officials said 241 passengers and crew, including 53 Brits, were killed just moments after taking off on June 12 in western India, and another 19 people died on the ground when the plane crashed into several buildings. 

Indian authorities reported in July that both fuel-control switches moved to the “cut-off” position seconds after take-off, which led to a catastrophic loss of thrust that caused the plane to stall and crash.

The captain of the flight, Sumeet Sabharwal, was allegedly suffering mental health problems following his mother’s death — leading some to speculate that the crash may have been intentional.

No final cause of the crash has been determined.

While Ramesh was in the hospital recovering, he was visited by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as news of his survival spread across the globe.